GUAM ENDS NZ’S WIN STREAK

GUAM ENDS NZ’S WIN STREAK

New Zealand suffered a lot of communication problems as Guam’s Eric Reyes beat the throw to first and was later brought home by Michael Concepcion. (photo by Andre Gadia)

After losing a tough game to the Philippines, Guam rebounded with a big 19-1 win over the New Zealand team through four-and-a-half innings via 10-run rule kicking off a busy baseball Saturday in the Senior Division of the Asia-Pacific Little League Regional Tournament. The win sets up an even bigger game against the CNMI team Sunday being that if CNMI loses, it will not show on their loss column. The game for Guam, however, counts either win or loss.

Guam had New Zealand pinned down early having two full batting rotations go by in the first inning scoring 12 runs to blow the game wide open. Hamish Witters had a rough outing for New Zealand at the mound allowing the first five Guam batters to get to base.

Shanovon Guerrero stole the show in the first by slamming the ball deep left and getting a bounce before hitting the wall to cash in a 3RBI triple to put Guam up 9-0. Three batters later, Michael Concepcion used a 2RBI single to give Guam the 12-0 lead.

Efficiently efficient: Guam’s Daniel went 2-2 with an RBI adding mightily to the big win against New Zealand during tournament play. (photo by Andre Gadia)

Johnny Aguon threw the entire innings with five strike outs and only allowed two hits prior to New Zealands final at bat. New Zealands Thomas Weaver stole second base after getting a single while teammate Nicholas Weaver stepped up to bat. Nick Weaver brought home Thomas off a hit right field to avoid the shut out.

New Zealand was coming off a 4-0 win against the Philippines, who beat Guam 7-6 by a walk-off hit by pitch. This is New Zealand’s first loss of the Tournament making them 3-1 giving Guam (2-1) the advantage of the tiebreaker. Guam will play CNMI tomorrow and will have to win and get help from either the Philippines in the later game or New Zealand on Monday in order to win the tournament.